Photo/Illutration An outlet for the "earth music & ecology" fashion brand in Tokyo’s Shinagawa Ward (Mari Fujisaki)

The CEO of a popular fashion brand who serves on a Cabinet Office council on gender equality was accused of sexual misconduct and harassment by multiple women, but the company did nothing except hand him a “stern warning” about his behavior.

Okayama-based Stripe International Inc., which operates “earth music & ecology” and other clothing brands, investigated the complaints by female employees and staff members at company outlets in December 2018. It verbally reprimanded Yasuharu Ishikawa but did not take disciplinary action.

The following March, Ishikawa, 49, was appointed to the Council for Gender Equality set up by the Cabinet Office to promote respect for human rights regardless of gender and encourage women’s equal participation in society as a matter of policy.

Four instances of sexual misconduct and harassment by Ishikawa that allegedly occurred between August 2015 and May 2018 were discussed at the December meeting, according to documents obtained by The Asahi Shimbun and other sources.

One of the allegations concerned an inspection visit that Ishikawa made in 2016 and his request to a female staff member of a company outlet to come to his hotel one morning. When the woman arrived, he was alleged to have committed an obscene act without her consent.

Ishikawa was also accused of sending a text message via LINE to an employee, “For your eyes only,” and invited her to his room during an overnight company training session.

He was also alleged to have requested a female staff member of a company outlet to come to his hotel bar late at night, clearly with the intention of taking matters further.

In another occasion, he asked another female staff member who lived outside Tokyo to come to Tokyo to “go on a date with me.”

The company’s external board members, external statutory auditors and a lawyer attended the meeting, at which documents alleging Ishikawa’s sexual misconduct and harassment were discussed.

They included LINE messages that Ishikawa sent to the woman who said Ishikawa forcibly performed an obscene act as well as her testimony.

After the hearing, Ishikawa admitted that he had invited the women to join him at dinner or go to a hotel and apologized, sources said.

Ishikawa was given a strict warning about his behavior but remained unpunished, according to one of the people who attended the meeting.

When contacted for comment by The Asahi Shimbun, a company representative said,  “We cannot disclose the contents of discussion at the meeting.”

According to the company’s website, Stripe International was founded in 1994. The group reported consolidated annual sales in fiscal 2018 of 136 billion yen ($1.3 billion).

The “earth music & ecology” brand ranks as the fourth favorite among university students on “Mynavi,” a website providing employment information, followed by Uniqlo, GU and Nike.

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